Dutch Music

[Ilja]

About the Gilse symphony 2, by the way- is one at all sure about E-flat -minor- for the key of the work? The first movement sounds very major-mode to me.  Even if the finale is in E-flat minor (I've had to put aside listening to it for the moment but will get back to it very soon), that doesn't signify.

I'm afraid it's what the score and the recordings of the work I have say. That's not to say that Van Gilse didn't do some pretty strange things with keys (take the 4th, for example).

[eschiss1]

Hrm. Odd that, still. Thanks...

[britishcomposer]

I have uploaded Dirk Schäfer's Suite Pastorale op.8 (orch. version).

His best known work is the Piano Quintet op. 5 which shows strong brahmsian influence but is nevertheless a very accomplished, personal work.
The Sonate Inaugurale op. 9 for piano makes me wonder if Schäfer knew Scriabin. The harmonies are not as daring as Scriabin's but the pianistic gestures remind me very much of the Russian master.
I would love to hear some later works. Unfortunately he wasn't very productive...

[Greg K]

Will you upload the Quintet?

[eschiss1]

there's at least two or three different commercial recordings of Schafer's piano quintet (at least one of them a CD recording, from NM Classics from 1994- that's the one (coupled with Schlegel's piano quartet- same Schlegel whose cello sonata was recently released with some Röntgen), I think, the slow movement from which is sometimes broadcast over BBC). There may well be noncommercial broadcasts of it too of course. I wonder if his other chamber works (including 4 violin sonatas) have been recorded...

[britishcomposer]

there's at least two or three different commercial recordings of Schafer's piano quintet (at least one of them a CD recording, from NM Classics from 1994- that's the one (coupled with Schlegel's piano quartet)

That's the recording I have, so I cannot upload it. Sorry.

[Holger]

As for Schäfer's Suite Pastorale, in the MGG work list it is sorted as an orchestral work, therefore (and with some Google hints) I assume it was the version for orchestra which came first. Again according to MGG, it was composed in 1903.

[Peter1953]

Thanks very much for the upload, britishcomposer! It's a lovely, late Romantic Suite. Dirk Schäfer is a too much underrated composer. The few musical pieces I know are all beautiful. His Piano Quintet is a wonderful, Romantic gem.

[britishcomposer]

Thank you, Holger, for the details about Schäfer's Suite. I have only very limited access to the MGG or Grove at the moment, so this is much appreciated!

[Dundonnell]

Huge Thanks to Maris for uploading another piece by Joep Franssens-"Grace"

If ever proof were needed that it is still possible to hear the most gorgeous and heart-warmingly beautiful music composed by a contemporary composer then this is it

[eschiss1]

Hrm. The only de Lange Jr. work for viola I knew of was an adagio for viola and organ published in 1892. Thanks!
(The fact that de Lange Sr. was also Samuel leads sometimes to questions about work-attribution, I think- or at least, I've thought I've seen reason to ask whether certain fortunately brief organ works were by father or son, for instance.)

[cjvinthechair]

Huge Thanks to Maris for uploading another piece by Joep Franssens-"Grace"

If ever proof were needed that it is still possible to hear the most gorgeous and heart-warmingly beautiful music composed by a contemporary composer then this is it

Do agree about Franssens - I'm fairly conservative, but quite prepared to have a go at more contemporary music, if the composer will make any concession to those of us who love a bit of beauty in our listening.
Franssens certainly qualifies - can anyone tell me if there are others I should be trying whose uploading I might otherwise ignore ?

Many thanks !

[Dundonnell]

Many thanks for the Willem Pijper Violin Concerto: another work I have been seeking for a long time

[Mark Thomas]

I've added Johan Albert van Eijken's Lucifer Overture, a solid mid-19th century product of Leipzig Conservatory training.

[Sydney Grew]

A few more words about Peter Schat's First Symphony. Its sound-world is I find - at least at a first hearing - quite similar to that of Vermeulen. In other words, if you are comfortable with Vermeulen you may well enjoy Schat.

The "notenkrakersactie" mentioned by the announcer at the end refers to the occasion in 1969 when a group of activists - led by Schat - disrupted a concert by the Concertgebouw Orchestra, demanding an open discussion of music policy.

And it may be of interest to look up Schat's musical system called the "Tone Clock," used in this symphony. He concluded that a musical language based on the exclusion of melody and consonance could lead only to mannerism and incomprehensibility, and so he designed what Grove's calls "a chromatic harmonic-melodic tonality embracing both chromaticism and pure triads."